


Envy

by MikeWritesThings



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Drinking, Established Relationship, Flirting, Friendship, Humor, Jealousy, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:13:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikeWritesThings/pseuds/MikeWritesThings
Summary: Nobody knew they were dating, and that was fine.Except it wasn’t.Because now, Elliott was flirting withhisboyfriend.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva
Comments: 4
Kudos: 118





	Envy

**Author's Note:**

> UNCREATIVE TITLE lowkey based off stimmedtavi 's cryptane headcanons on tumblr
> 
> theres a lil bg holohealer in this...[whispers] for max

Taejoon was used to sharing. Growing up in an orphanage with about a dozen other kids, sharing was something you got used to.

Hairbrushes, food, toys, sometimes even punishments—everything was to be shared amongst his siblings. Normally he shared with Mila, and if she didn’t want whatever he had to offer, he tried to enjoy it by himself until any of the other ten kids he lived with got their grubby hands on it.

He always ended up sharing the thing regardless, because that was just how life as an orphan worked.

Taejoon was not, however, very good at sharing people.

Of course, people were not an item, and nobody could own something, but he hadn’t gotten the memo as a child; nobody else was allowed to play with Mila, only he was. If Mystik was giving him affection, nobody was allowed to butt in to try and get their share. It was for him, and him only. If he saw the other kids taking up Mila’s time, he threw a fit. If someone else tried talking to Mystik whenever she was going on about _look how smart you are, Taejoon,_ he’d give them the stink eye until they went away.

He’d eventually grown out of this—he was not entitled to anybody’s time, and just because Mila and Mystik interacted with other people that weren’t him, didn’t mean they loved him less.

It was actually kind of embarrassing thinking about it now, as a grown man, just how jealous he’d been as a preteen every time his sister made plans with other people because _hey,_ we _were supposed to go to the arcade together,_ or _hey,_ we _were supposed to get lunch together._ These memories often made him physically cringe, so he tried not to think about them, because he’d grown out of it, anyways.

Or so he had thought.

He and Octavio had been dating for about five months. Five months of secret meet-ups, away from the prying eyes of the others, five months of shared kisses and pretending that they weren’t anything more than casual acquaintances in a bloodsport.

Five months of reaching out to take Octavio's hand, but stopping himself because they were in public. Five months of Octavio climbing into his lap with a grin on his face, and Taejoon having to shove him off because the others were nearby, and he couldn't risk them seeing.

They’d been dating for five months, but Octavio had spent twice as long as that chipping away at Taejoon’s defenses with an icepick. Actually, an icepick was a much more subtle comparison than it actually was—it had been more like a jackhammer.

Having done (extensive) research on all of the Legends, Taejoon had not pictured himself getting close to any of them—especially when you considered the paranoia he felt at every angle, every turn, anxious and on edge. But Octavio was his neighbor on the dropship and in the compound, and they both had a knack for staying up late, so one thing led to another and he was soon spending more time with the daredevil than anticipated.

The early hours of the morning was the time period Taejoon was at his rawest—at the end of his frayed rope, caught between wanting to scream his name to the whole world and the want to go into hiding again. His most vulnerable moments, where his guard was down because he was too fucking _stressed,_ and Octavio happened to be there a lot of those times. Lots of late-night talks, midnight video gaming sessions and breakfasts eaten together at the crack of fucking dawn.

( _"Up late again?" Octavio asked, and Taejoon tore his burning eyes away from his screen. "Y'know, I'm starting to think you stay up late just so you can talk to me, amigo."_

_Maybe that was true. His days certainly seemed brighter after he talked with the other man, let himself laugh and smile naturally. No show to put on, for he was too tired to do so; just being._

_"Your ego is bigger than you are," Taejoon said out loud, and Octavio smiled at him—that pretty smile that made him feel...something._ )

Late night sessions turned into conversations between matches, turned into time spent in the practicing range and out on the city and eventually turned into kissing one another behind closed doors, hips flush and hands wandering before anyone could catch them. His longing for real human contact had left him vulnerable, and he found himself in a relationship with the one person he had opened himself up to during his time undercover.

While Taejoon had failed at the whole ‘ _don’t get close to anyone’_ part of his plan, he could at _least_ hide the fact that he was dating Octavio fucking Silva, who was the _exact_ opposite of subtle.

Case in point, an exchange they had had just yesterday:

“Babe, wanna be in a vlog with me?”

Taejoon drained the rest of his coffee, scalding his tongue in the process, but not quite caring as he glanced at his boyfriend, who was leaning against the counter in nothing but a tank top and dangerously short shorts. He was clearly trying to entice him into agreeing, but it wasn't going to work.

“No.”

Octavio's lips formed into a pout. “But—”

“Secrecy, Octavio.”

“I want to—”

“Subterfuge, Octavio.”

“It’s just a—”

“Stealth, Octavio.”

“How many ‘s’ words do you know?” Octavio complained, kicking away from the counter irritably. “Fine. Guess I’ll just keep telling everyone I’m single, and that I don’t have a hot-ass boyfriend with long legs and nice hair, or whatever.”

“Good,” Taejoon said, and stuffed the rest of his kolachi into his mouth, trying to ignore the way Octavio's shorts were riding up his ass.

The public couldn't know that the two of them were seeing each other, and neither could the other Legends lest they accidentally let something slip. Well, Lifeline _might_ already know, because Octavio couldn’t help but tell her everything, but Taejoon didn’t think that she taken him seriously, so it was fine. Nobody knew they were dating, and that was fine.

Except it wasn’t.

Because now, Elliott was flirting with _his_ boyfriend.

Duos was always a highly anticipated event—certain pairings were brought back, much to the fans’ excitement, popular duos including Wraith and Natalie, Anita and Loba, and Octavio and Elliott.

Wraith and Natalie for their very opposite demeanors that somehow still got along in a sweet way, Anita and Loba for their old married couple bickering-and-flirting routine, and Octavio and Elliott because they were both idiots, and entertaining to watch.

He thought nothing of it at first—their dynamic was hilarious to the viewers at home, and whatever brought the Games and the Syndicate more money was sure to be exploited and milked dry for all it was worth. 

But midway through the third game of Duos week, Taejoon, scouting ahead with his drone, happened upon the two looting through the deathboxes of a team they’d just killed.

"Remember your first game?" Elliott was asking, and Octavio paused, deep in thought, before chirping,

"You mean when the Repulsor Tower almost killed me?"

Taejoon flinched at the memory—he hadn't meant to cause any unnecessary casualties, but he had found out later on that Octavio had almost died when he had taken the Tower out. He wasn't sure if Octavio had figured out that that was _his_ doing yet, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell him, either.

Then again, he would probably just find it highly amusing.

“Yeah, that. Well, remember what you said about me being perfect?” Elliott said, scuffing the ground with his boot, and Taejoon narrowed his eyes, edging his drone a little closer so that he could hear Octavio’s response.

“Nope,” his boyfriend said brightly.

“W-well, you did!” Elliott sounded indignant. “I was shooting at you, and you said, ‘for a dumb guy, you’re perfect’!”

Why was the other man even bringing this up? What was the intention of this conversation? Taejoon suddenly noticed how close the two were to one another, side by side as they split a box of light ammo between them. Taejoon nudged his drone even closer, itching to hear what they would say next, but Pathfinder suddenly said from behind him,

“Let’s go attack them!”

Taejoon grit his teeth in annoyance at the perpetually happy-go-lucky tone of voice the other seemed to have. They had both been paired up for reasons similar to Wraith and Natalie; however, unlike those two, _their_ personalities clashed far more often.

Looking up from his drone mode, Taejoon said coolly,

“We shouldn’t. There are three other squads in the area.”

It was true, but he had another reason for avoiding them at the moment, which was the simple reason that he didn’t like killing Octavio.

“Hm,” Pathfinder said, holding the scope of his Sentinel up to his blinking eye (or whatever that thing was). “I have a clean shot from here!”

“You’re going to alert everyone of our position,” Taejoon said, annoyed, and logged back into drone view. Elliott now had his arm slung over Octavio, leaning his weight on the shorter man.

It was something that Octavio liked to do to him often. Either leaning against him while he was in drone mode or draping himself across Taejoon's back while he was on his computer, weighing down until he was forced to look up from his screen and pay attention to his boyfriend. It had a high success rate, and it was Octavio's go-to method to get his attention.

Seeing Elliott do something similar was... _annoying._

“Fine,” Taejoon said, and pocketed the remote. “Take Mirage out first.”

“But why? Mirage is my best friend!”

“So he can’t cloak himself to revive Octane,” Taejoon said, making up an excuse on the spot, and luckily, Pathfinder agreed with him.

“That is a good point!” There was a loud _crack,_ so sudden that Taejoon flinched a little. “I hit him! Wow, I am a great shot!”

It was astounding how easily the MRVN shot his ‘best friend’ without a second thought after being given a good enough reason. Taejoon wished he could do the same for Octavio.

A flare suddenly dropped at their feet, and he remembered the fact that there were three other squads in the area, and his brief burst of irritation had just alerted them of their presence.

“Airstrike,” Taejoon said, and Pathfinder set up a zipline for them to escape. As they crossed over bubbling lava, he watched Octavio in the distance jam a revive syringe into Elliott’s chest, and felt yet another strange burst of irritation at how close their faces were.

 _You’re being stupid,_ he told himself, and resolved to not think of them for the rest of the game, but he did feel immense satisfaction later on down the line when he shot Elliott between his eyes with a Wingman. He was over it, now.

* * *

Okay, so he was not over it.

How could he be, when Octavio was leaning across the bar right now, and honest to god _giggling_ at whatever the fuck Elliott had just said. Elliott, with his stupidly wide grin and stupid perfect hair and stupid _whatever_ funny thing he had just spewed out of his mouth that was making Octavio’s face light up like that.

Taejoon had gone out and bought himself crappy fast food to celebrate his win, wanting to avoid Elliott’s bar at all costs, but had somehow found himself here anyways, ditching Pathfinder on the way. He had brought his food inside so he wouldn’t have to actually order anything, but he was now tempted to do so if it meant Elliott would get the fuck away from his boyfriend.

He didn't know _why_ it was bothering him so much. He knew Octavio had no romantic interest in Elliott, had phsyically gagged at the thought when Taejoon had brought it up once, and yet he couldn't tear his attention away from them. The casual affection they had towards one another, pats on the back and high fives and smiles that he was unable to bring to Octavio's face because he was too 'boring' in public. It left a sour taste in his mouth, and he was sure his facial expression was unpleasant.

He watched Octavio down a shot before balancing the glass on his nose, some party trick he’d shown to Taejoon once. This time it didn’t last very long, though—it went falling to the counter and he managed to catch it before it could shatter, and Taejoon felt a really weird sense of gratification. _He managed to balance it longer when he was doing it for_ me. _Take that, Witt._

“I think that burrito had a family, Crypto.”

Taejoon started a little, turning his head to see Wraith standing there, giving him a level stare and holding an Appletini in one hand. He then looked down to see that he had squeezed his burrito so tightly that all of the beans and meat were laying in a puddle at the bottom of the styrofoam carton it’d come in.

Wraith slid into the seat beside him, sipping delicately from her drink before saying bluntly,

“You’re jealous.”

“I am not,” was his instant response. He then remembered that he was supposed to be pretending to _not_ be in a relationship with Octavio. “Jealous of what?”

“Mirage.”

“I don’t know why I would be.” Fuck fuck fuck fuck _fuck._

“I know you and Octane are dating,” Wraith said, knowing full well he would dance around the subject or outright deny it unless confronted directly. “I saw you two kiss on the rooftop last season.”

_Fuck._

“So you saw us kiss—and just assumed that we are dating?” Taejoon asked, but it was a weak rebuttal, and actually made the situation a little worse when Wraith nodded slowly to herself and said,

“Ah. So you’re upset that you didn’t take the opportunity to ask him out, then. And now it looks like Mirage will get there first.”

“No he won’t,” Taejoon snapped, accidentally dropping his burrito. “We’re already dating.”

Her smug silence made him hate himself as he realized his mistake. There was no use pretending now. Taking a deep breath to try and calm down, Taejoon stressed, “I am _not_ jealous of Mirage.”

He had no idea why she was even sitting here talking to him about it. She often offered him help and weird, vague advice, though he had no idea why, as they were not particularly close. He had always gotten the sense that she knew more about him than she let on, which made him extremely wary of her. It was probably the interdimensional thing, but he was paranoid.

Looking away from her smug expression—which was only a slight lift to the left corner of her mouth—Taejoon focused on Octavio and Elliott again, who had somehow managed to rope Anita into the conversation. He knew his boyfriend was on good terms with her, and that she in return was exasperatedly fond of him, like one would be of a particularly stupid dog who kept running directly intro traffic every time he was left off his leash.

Octavio clung to Anita's arm, voice loud enough to make out the overdramatic edge to it, but not enough to hear his actual spoken words. He watched the way his boyfriend tugged at her, trying to get her to pay attention to him, as she was currently in heated debate with Elliott, and Taejoon was reminded of a similar situation last weekend.

("Jooooon," Octavio had begged, tugging on his arm and purposely being annoying. "Come on, let's _go_."

"You can wait," Taejoon said without looking up, repairing his drone one-handedly while his boyfriend took his other hand hostage.

"But I wanna make out nowwwww."

"My lips are not going anywhere. Give me five minutes."

"But that's laaaaame."

Taejoon lifted his head to give the other man a peck on his lips, a kiss so quick that Octavio blinked like he wasn't sure it had actually happened. Satiated for now, he stopped whining, but kept tugging on his arm to remind him that he was still there and still impatient.)

Taejoon bitterly watched Octavio hang off of Anita as he took a bite out of his burrito, but because of his earlier deathgrip, all that remained was tortilla and some cheese stuck to the bottom. It was a miserable burrito, and matched his mood perfectly.

“Why don’t you go over there and talk to him, instead of sitting here wallowing in self-pity,” Wraith said in a flat voice. She set her empty glass down on the bar before pushing away from it. “Also, there’s someone in the corner waiting to ask you out as soon as you’re done eating.”

She gave him a half smile that looked like it physically hurt, and then disappeared. Literally. He still had no idea how she did that.

Taejoon took another bite of his cheese tortilla as he discreetly glanced over his shoulder, seeing a woman in her early twenties standing in the corner of the bar, watching him. He made eye contact with her, and her blue eyes widened before she scrambled out of sight, straight for the bathrooms. Sighing, he gathered all of his trash and stuffed it into the styrofoam carton before carrying it to a trashcan, sourly hoping that the beans would stink up Elliott’s bar.

He then approached the trio with his hands in his pockets, joining them silently on a seat right beside Anita, as Octavio was sitting at the very end and she was next to him.

“Hey, Cryppy,” Elliott greeted, flashing him a grin, and though that nickname usually made him roll his eyes, this time the stab of annoyance that went through him seemed tenfold. “Can I get you anything?"

Taejoon didn't respond, just glared at the other man heatedly, which made him falter and chuckle nervously, glancing around as if looking for someone to rescue him.

“Hey, compadre, we were just about to have a shots contest,” Octavio said, distracting him as he leaned across the counter so that he could peer around Anita. “Wanna join us?”

“I never agreed to this,” Anita said, but it fell on deaf ears.

Taejoon had to act as if he were nothing more than Octavio's casual acquaintance during moments like these, and normally he would have said no, but...the way Elliott had gotten Octavio to smile earlier was all he could think of, and he wanted to bring that same expression to the other's face just to prove that he could.

Who he was proving it to, however, he wasn't quite sure yet.

“Sure,” Taejoon eventually agreed, and he felt warm at the way Octavio’s face lit up then, his eyes twinkling as he slammed his palm against the bar counter and demanded three shots from Elliott, who smiled wide at his boyfriend—and made another overprotective and jealous surge wash over Taejoon, who kicked the other's leg silently in retaliation.

"Ow!" Elliott cried out in pain, but it went ignored as the others kept talking.

“Silva, did you hear what I just said?”

“Come on, Bangs, it’s just a couple of shots.” Octavio grinned at her, a glint in his eyes. “Unless you don’t think you can compare to me?”

Anita’s hand clenched over the bar, and she grumbled, “Bring it.”

* * *

Taejoon was _drunk._

Octavio thought it was fantastic. They’d been dating for several months, known each other for even longer than that, and he’d never once seen the man so inebriated. They had drank before, a beer here and there, and Taejoon had gotten him to try soju once—but he had never gotten like this.

Five shots and two White Russians left his boyfriend slumped against the bar, head resting in his arms as he kicked the counter with his foot. The other man’s speech had slowly started to slur as they downed shots, and by the third he had decided to order an actual drink from Elliott while Octavio and Anita kept up their contest.

They had also ordered a basket of fries so that they wouldn’t feel like total shit after their contest, but at some point Taejoon had slid it over to himself and started chewing on them slowly, unwilling to share, so they left him alone. 

(He had even thrown a fry at Elliott for seemingly no reason at all, which had made both he and Anita laugh so hard the trickster threatened to kick them out of his bar.)

Octavio honestly would have never expected Taejoon to join them in this, because his boyfriend seemed _allergic_ to talking to him in public, always avoiding him in the Games or at parties or other sorts of public places like this. Octavio remembered waving enthusiastically at him one too many times only to be downright ignored, reminding him that right, they were supposed to be discreet, or whatever—but he had joined this time around, and for that he was grateful.

And Taejoon was _cute_ like this—pouting in a petulant manner, unhappy for some reason despite another win under his belt today, and occasionally shooting Elliott and Anita filthy looks that Octavio didn't know the reason for, and didn't have time to ask. He downed yet another shot, trying not to lag behind, but Anita was already lining up her next round while Taejoon gave up and ordered another drink.

Anita won, nine shots and several glasses of water later, and she was then escorted out of the bar by Makoa, who had seen her swaying on her feet while Octavio glared at his seventh shot, unable to bring himself to take it. Shots stopped being fun whenever he was buzzed, because he wasn't too fond of being drunk. It made him feel so _slow._

He was just considering ordering himself a hamburger when Elliott gave him a big grin, as if reading his mind.

“Anything you want is on the house,” he said graciously, and Octavio was immediately suspicious of him. “Kill leader today—good job, buddy.”

Before Octavio could ask _Alright what do you want from me,_ Taejoon suddenly straightened up, glaring at Elliott with bleary eyes. He had also accidentally shoved the empty basket of fries away from him, and it clattered to the ground next to Elliott’s feet, causing the man to jump in surprise.

Taejoon didn’t say anything, just kept glaring at Elliott, who laughed a little nervously before stage-whispering, “Why is he looking at me like that?”

“Probably ‘cuz he can sense that you’re full of shit,” Octavio said. Elliott was only ever this nice to him whenever he wanted a favor, and Octavio really wanted to get this over with and go home to play video games, so he asked, “C’mon, what do you want?”

“I don’t know what you’re t-talking about!” Elliott stuttered, eyes flitting around wildly, caught. “I, uh, just wanted to be nice to my Duos partner, okay? N-nothing more.”

“Sure, and I bet—”

“Leave,” Taejoon suddenly burst out, and the two men looked at him with wide eyes, his slow, slurring speech very loud now that half the bar had cleared out. “My boyfriend. _Alone._ ”

You could’ve heard a pin drop in the bar. Several people were looking over at them with curious eyes, and Octavio himself was in shock, because the secret they had tried really hard to hide was out now, and it wasn’t even _his_ fault. Man, he’d _so_ wanted to be the one to tell everyone first, but Taejoon _had_ to go and get drunk and weird. Stupid Taejoon.

“What,” Elliott said, also shocked by these words, but for the exact opposite reason.

“I said,” and here Taejoon swung his arm out, pointing his finger directly at Elliott’s nose and making the man go cross-eyed. “Leave him alone.”

Elliott blinked, before turning to look at Octavio. “Is he being serious?”

“Yeah, we’re dating,” Octavio said, seeing no reason to keep it secret after his boyfriend had just loudly announced it to a bar full of strangers.

“Oh. Congrats, I guess.” 

“D-don’t think I haven’t noticed,” Taejoon kept slurring, and Octavio wanted to take out his phone to film him, because oh man this was going to be great. “That you’re. Flirting. With him.”

“What.”

“I hate you.” Taejoon staggered forward, leaning his elbows on the bar because his unsteady legs couldn’t keep him upright. "You keep _talking_. To him." 

_Is he jealous?_ Octavio thought to himself, astounded, but the next thing he knew Taejoon was leaning against him, arm wrapped around his shoulder while he started mumbling in Korean. Octavio did not know a lot about Korean, but he did know a lot of the swear words, and Taejoon was currently saying a bunch of those.

Elliott opened his mouth to say something, but froze when Taejoon pointed two fingers at his own eyes before jabbing them in his direction, the universal sign for _I'm watching you._ He then looked down at Octavio, who he was still half on top of.

"Saranghae," Taejoon told him, hugging him to his chest and swaying a little on the spot while Octavio laughed.

Then, his boyfriend was entirely dead weight on top of him, and Octavio gave a yelp as he nearly collapsed to the floor due to the sheer heaviness of him.

There was a beat as he struggled to hold him up, suddenly not finding this situation as amusing.

“I think he passed out,” Elliott said very unhelpfully.

“Thanks, amigo. I didn’t even notice.” Octavio adjusted Taejoon a little so that he was now half-hanging off of him, because he was very heavy, what with his jacket and five million belts and all. Why did he even need so many belts? 

“Well, take him home," his friend said, starting to wipe down the counter with a rag and acting as if that whole situation didn't just happen. "I can’t have unconscious people at my bar, y'know? G-gives me a bad rep and all."

Octavio grinned. “But that would mean your bar is fun! Anyways, what is it that you wanted from me?”

Elliott sighed, giving up the pretense of just trying to be nice and tossing the rag aside. “Uhm...I was j-just wondering...is Lifeline single?”

Octavio blinked, and nearly dropped Taejoon in surprise.

“ _Huh?_ ”

“Like, is she seeing anyone...or...” Elliott trailed off, now embarrassed. Octavio suddenly realized just what exactly the other man was getting at. He squinted at him, before raising his thumb to slice it across his throat in a threatening manner, making a little _skrk_ sound effect as well.

“Don’t even think about it,” Octavio said.

“Loud and clear,” Elliott said, and then ducked under the bar when Octavio tried throwing one of his empty shot glasses at him. No way in hell was he going to let that loser date his sister (well. sister _figure_ ), but he supposed there was nothing he could actually do to stop him. Hey, on second thought, if they dated, that would be hilarious! Maybe then Che would stop being such a stick in the mud!

Octavio managed to carry Taejoon out of the bar and hailed a cab, knowing full well that there was no way he’d be able to carry him all the way to his place. Octavio was much shorter than him, and also buzzed. That just sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, and not the fun kind, either.

When they got to Octavio’s apartment, he practically dumped his boyfriend onto his bed before entering his kitchen, making himself a bag of popcorn for a late snack. He had always liked popcorn after drinking—something about the saltiness of it left him feeling satisfied whenever bar food had failed, and considering that Taejoon had eaten that whole basket of fries by himself, he hadn’t had much to eat tonight.

And speaking of Taejoon...was he _jealous_ of he and Elliott's relationship? Octavio couldn't imagine _why—_ Octavio was far, far more physically affectionate with Taejoon than he was with Elliott, and he didn't view the other man as anything more than his best friend. Maybe even an annoying older brother at times, not that he'd ever had one to compare him to.

He thought about the way his boyfriend's face had been sour as he watched them, his eyes following Octavio's every movement and his lips turning downwards in a pout. It had been really, _really_ cute, because most of the time Taejoon seemed rather...offhand in their relationship. Not so clingy, not so physically affectionate or fond of kissing, and where Octavio had a dozen pet names for the other up his sleeve, Taejoon had none.

For the first time in his life it had felt like _he_ was the one putting all of the work into a relationship with a disinterested party, but those little signs of jealousy earlier made Octavio feel more confident that yes, Taejoon _did_ like him, and didn't just _tolerate_ his presence.

And maybe now that Taejoon had drunkenly announced their relationship to the world, he would be more willing to do something as simple as hold Octavio's hand in public.

Octavio ate the whole bag of popcorn by himself as he thought about it, staring at his dark TV screen blankly. He soon got up to take shower, and then passed out next to his boyfriend, who was drooling in a very unflattering manner on the pillow next to him.

* * *

When Taejoon woke up, he felt like shit.

He had apparently fallen asleep in his jacket, so he was hot and sweaty. Peeling his eyes open, he rolled onto his side, and a bubble in his stomach rose into his throat and made him burp. God, that tasted like...alcohol. 

Great. He had virtually no memory of last night, but had evidently gotten himself a celebratory drink after his Duos match, though he had no idea how he had gotten here.

Looking around, he realized that he was in Octavio’s bedroom, easily recognizable due to the sheer amount of posters inside. Many of them were lopsided because Octavio hadn’t bothered putting them up straight, and it was a little charming. A heavy blanket was pinned above his window in place of a curtain, blocking most of the sunlight, and when Taejoon sat up he noticed a little styrofoam plate next to him with a Poptart on it.

Stuck to the Poptart was a post-it note:

_good morning babe heres ur breakfast xoxoxo im going to be filming for my video next saturday luv octavio <3_

_ps i stole ur drone._

With a sigh, Taejoon pocketed the note and took a bite out of the Poptart, which was...fine. Not his favorite, but strawberry was passable. Anything that would get the sour taste of alcohol out of his mouth.

He got up to get a glass of water from the kitchen, but Octavio didn’t have any painkillers in his house, so he would have to suffer through his headache for now.

Until he found a pair of Octavio’s sunglasses on top of his TV, and decided that he might as well go to the bodega across the street. Not even bothering to check how he looked before leaving, Taejoon took the elevator to the ground floor before walking out into the street, which somehow seemed so bright despite the sunglasses. It was agonizing.

He saw his reflection in a store window as he walked, and saw that his hair was sticking up on the side he’d slept on. Maybe he _should_ have combed it before leaving.

The bodega was filled with people making quick breakfast stops before work, either waiting in line at the bakery for a coffee and a croissant or buying energy bars at the cash register. Taejoon grabbed a bottle of painkillers as well as a bag of chips before standing in line, deciding to look at his phone to pass the time.

The first thing he noticed was that Wraith had sent him a text:

_Wraith: [image.png]_

_Wraith: whoops._

It was a screenshot of a news article, and the title was something to the effect of _‘Crypto and Octane Dating Rumors.’_

Taejoon took in a deep breath, and didn't let it out for quite a while as a sinking feeling took hold of him.

It was _too_ fucking early for this.

Taejoon paid for his items and left, popping open the bottle in the middle of the sidewalk and dry swallowing one of the pills inside, before heading to the skate park, where he knew Octavio would be. 

He didn't know what had happened, why these rumors were circulating when they had both been as discreet as possible, but he knew that Octavio must have had something to do with it. It wasn't that he distrusted the other man, but really, there was no other explanation.

He ran a hand through his hair in annoyance, speeding up his pace due to his own irritation. _Fuck,_ this was the exact kind of attention he was trying to avoid, this speculative bullshit that would lead people to _dig into_ him—it was hard enough being a Legend, a _champion,_ but he never gave the media anything to work with because he avoided interviews and doing anything too crazy outside of the games.

This one thing alone had just blew all that.

He heard his boyfriend before he saw him; heard the shouts and laughs and commentary, and as he rounded the corner, managed to catch his boyfriend in the middle of flipping his skateboard in midair. He landed smoothly in the halfpipe, far too graceful for a man who fell out of chairs more often than not.

Taejoon’s drone hovered above the scene, occasionally following along Octavio’s movements, which the other man had somehow gotten it to do, despite Taejoon not having programmed it to do so. Whatever. At least he hadn't been roped into actively piloting it—he rather hated the skate park.

A few preteens were watching Octavio, clapping whenever he did something particularly impressive, and Taejoon stood next to them, waiting for the other to notice him. He eventually did when trying to balance his board on the edge of the halfpipe, and he enthusiastically waved at Taejoon, who waved back despite his initial annoyance with being here.

Octavio did a few more tricks before jogging over to meet him, peeling his mask off of his face while the kids immediately jumped at the opportunity to use the halfpipe now that he wasn't hogging it.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” Octavio said, which felt like a jab at Taejoon’s current state. He then leaned up in an attempt to kiss him, but Taejoon ducked out of the way, murmuring,

“Stop.”

“Right, sorry, forgot about the no PDA rule.” Octavio grinned, looking him up and down. " _And_ the fact that you're hungover."

“Apparently so,” Taejoon said, and took out his phone, showing the other the news article. He didn’t want to immediately blame his boyfriend for leading people to these rumors, but Taejoon himself had been very careful with what he did in public. He had no idea how anybody could have an idea that they were dating unless Octavio had accidentally let something slip.

...Well, except for the fact that Wraith had seen them kissing once, but Wraith was an outlier, and should not be considered.

Octavio squinted at the screen, mouthing the words to himself before he burst into laughter, much to Taejoon's bemusement.

“Oh, _that_? That wasn't my fault! Dude, you got like, _drunk_ last night.”

Feeling a little pit of dread form in his stomach, Taejoon waited for his boyfriend to continue. “And?”

“You got all mad at Elliott and accused him of flirting with me, and then passed out.” Octavio sighed to himself wistfully. “I wish I had gotten it on camera.”

Taejoon felt his face heat up a little at these words, remembering the bitterness he had felt last night as he watched Octavio and Elliott and Anita laugh together. The sort of bitterness he hadn’t felt since he was a child, an ugly jealousy that hadn’t reared its head since Mila had told him ‘stop being weird, you’re not my _only_ friend’.

The past few months of secrecy felt like a waste now—he had always figured that if their relationship should get found out by others, it would be by Octavio making a careless mistake. Not by him getting drunk and jealous at the same time, a dangerous combination, and _fuck,_ this was humiliating. Especially considering the fact that he had instantly jumped to pin the blame on Octavio.

“...Fuck,” he cursed out loud, and buried his face in his hands.

“Hey, it was cute!” Octavio laughed, wrapping his arms around Taejoon’s waist, and he didn’t even stop him because what point was there to pretend, now? “I didn’t think you had it in you, cariño. You were all pouty! You’re so cute when you pout.”

“Please stop talking."

"By the way, you look so sexy with my sunglasses on."

"Octavio."

“And Elliott wasn’t even flirting with me, dumbass.” Octavio started leaning his full weight against him, hands snaking down Taejoon’s thighs as he fixed him with a level stare. “He was trying to get me to hook him up with Ajay. We’re best friends, man. Get used to it.”

“...I’m sorry,” Taejoon mumbled, because he knew that getting jealous in the first place had been ridiculous, but the feeling of it just wouldn’t go away. He had wished that he could get Octavio to openly laugh like that, had wished that he could casually touch him, but he had always held back, always kept his distance in public because he was afraid that others would find out about their relationship—only to have Elliott do the very thing he’d been avoiding for months.

He still felt bitter about it, even in his embarrassment, so he returned Octavio's hug a little hesitantly, awkward and unsure. Octavio drew away from Taejoon then, holding the bag of chips he’d bought at the bodega, having used his clinginess to him as a distraction to swipe it out of the plastic bag in Taejoon’s hand.

“Don’t apologize, I don’t care. I thought it was kind of hot.” Octavio swallowed a potato chip, before holding one out for Taejoon, who took it into his mouth and started chewing slowly. “Anyways, now that everyone knows, we can totally make out in public now.”

Taejoon lifted up his sunglasses to glare at his boyfriend, but the effect was slightly ruined by the fact that the sunlight felt like it was pouring hot acid directly onto his retinas, and his face scrunched up.

“What!” Octavio laughed. “It’s my turn to make people jealous now. Jealous of the fact that I have a hot boyfriend, and the fact that it’s _you_. Do you know how many Crypto fanclubs there are?”

“I don’t want to know.”

“A lot! And I have something they don’t have! You!”

Taejoon glanced around, paranoid that someone was going to overhear their conversation, and Octavio instantly chided him for it.

"Hey, none of that. Let's practice, man." Octavio leaned against him a little once again, grabbing one of Taejoon's hands and guiding it slowly to his bare waist.

They stood in the skate park like that, Taejoon's hands on Octavio's waist while his heart thudded against his ribcage, some mixture of anxiety and paranoia that he was knew was _stupid_ now because they had already been figured out—when Octavio grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down to kiss him.

Kissing Octavio was always nice, a spark of electricity that made his mind go blank, and it had the same effect here. Despite his hangover, despite his paranoia, despite his embarrassment, kissing Octavio and squeezing his waist left him feeling winded, as it did every time.

Octavio pulled away from him after a few seconds, his face scrunched up while Taejoon's hands remained on his waist, not wanting to let go.

"Ew," his boyfriend said. "You taste like vodka."

"...Sorry."

**Author's Note:**

> hope u enjoyed !! i think im starting to get Super burnt out + my school is going to start soon so i will take a small break . ty for reading !
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/tsodmike)  
> [tumblr](https://seerofmike.tumblr.com)


End file.
